A MURDERER who strangled a frail Teesside grandmother with his bare hands was branded “pure evil” by detectives today.

And the victim’s distraught family warned the killer needed to be caught to protect others.

Police hunting the murderer of 85-year-old Pat Thompson sought to reassure the public - but urged people to take “common sense precautions” and check on the elderly.

The warnings were issued at a press conference in which fresh details of Mrs Thompson’s life - and tragic death - emerged.

The killer, who could be a man or woman, struck at night in a quiet and leafy suburb of Stockton.

Mrs Thompson’s body was left on her bed before her bungalow was torched in two places and the doors left locked.

Mrs Thompson’s daughter Ann Szary, who lives in Wales, said: “They need to be caught. Other people need to be protected from somebody like that.”

Mrs Thompson, a widow and grandmother of six, was formerly a classroom assistant at Ian Ramsay School. She lived in Stockton all her life.

Her husband Joseph died in April 1995 aged 70. Mrs Thompson also lost her son Richard, 40, in November of that year.

Ann, 51, said of her mum: “She lived quite a full social life. She had friends that came and went. She had people who took her to church. We took her on holiday to the Lake District three weeks ago. We had a lovely time.

“But she wasn’t foolish. She didn’t let strangers in. We just keep saying ‘why? How did it happen?

“She had been quite poorly. She was really quite frail. She had difficulty walking.

“She was a singer, she sang in choirs all her life. She was cheery all the time - a joy to be around.”

Mrs Thompson’s other daughter Catherine, 48, of Stockton, said her mum had a lot of friends and would go to church a couple of times a week.

“Ann spoke to her every day and I popped round most days,” said Catherine.

“I saw her on Friday night. I used to go and do her hair for her. She used to say ‘laugh every day’.”